Voice over data for remotely located operators

ABSTRACT

A method for managing operator services comprises the steps of: compressing respective voice calls between a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a local area network (LAN) of telephone operator work stations into respective streams of digital voice data packets; multiplexing the respective streams of digital voice data packets; transmitting the multiplexed streams of the respective voice data packets between the PSTN and the LAN over a single digital data transmission line; demultiplexing the respective streams of the digital voice data packets transmitted over the single digital data transmission line; and, decompressing the demultiplexed streams of the digital voice data packets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to the field of telephone operatorservice, and in particular, to managing communications to and fromtelephone operator work stations utilizing voice over data technology.

2. Description of Related Art

Callers requesting directory assistance, or other operator services,initiate telephone calls into a public switched telephone network(PSTN). The PSTN routes the telephone calls to an automatic calldistributor (ACD). The PSTN and ACD are connected by T1/E1 voice trunklines for subscribers, which carry voice. The designation T1 is usedprimarily in the United States of America (USA) to identify a telephoneline data carrier having 24 channels over which data can be transmittedat 1.5 megabits per second (MB/sec). The designation E1 is usedprimarily outside the USA to identify a telephone line data carrierhaving 32 channels over which data can be transmitted at 2.0 MB/sec.

The ACD monitors operator activity data to identify an availableoperator and, upon such identification, transfers the call to one of aplurality of operator work stations, provided with a telephone for theoperator, via sets of channel banks connected by T1/E1 voice trunk lineswhich carry voice and switch control data.

One of the channel banks communicates with different ones of theplurality of operator work stations via respective sets of operatorswitch control lines and operator voice lines. If a T1 trunk line having24 channels is utilized, for example, then 24 operator work stations canbe connected to one of the channel banks by 24 respective sets ofoperator switch control lines and operator voice lines.

Operators need to access data bases of operator services information,also referred to as caller data information, which the operators supplyto the callers, for example a telephone number or a long distancecalling rate. These data bases include, for example, a listing servicesinformation program (LSIP) and a number services information program(NSIP). The data bases form part of a data center local area network(LAN). The data bases of the caller data information are connected todifferent ones of the operator work stations via a plurality of callprocessing data routers.

Communications within each of the data center LAN and the operatorcenter LAN typically take place at 16 MB/sec. However, the routersassociated with the data center LAN and the operator center LANcommunicate with one another via a wide area network (WAN), whichtransmits data at only 64 Kilobits per second (KB/sec).

The data center LAN also includes a maintenance administration program(MAP) containing operator activity data. Operator registration dataincludes identification of operators signing on and off of the system,as work shifts and work breaks pass, and also includes identification ofwhich operators are handling service calls in progress and whichoperators are available to handle new service calls. The MAP iscontinuously updated by the operator work stations and continuouslyaccessed by the ADC.

It can be appreciated from a brief reference to the prior art operatorservices system shown in FIG. 1 that separate communications paths arerequired. One path is for voice and switching data via the trunk lines24, which can operate at 16 MB/sec. The other path is for the operatorservices information via the WAN 50, which transmits data at only 64KB/sec. Moreover, each of the work stations 18 requires twocommunications interfaces. One interface is with the respective set ofoperator switch control lines and operator voice lines 26 and 28, forthe voice and switch control data. The other interface is with theoperator center LAN 48, for the operator services data and operatoractivity data.

Presently, operators in call centers and local operator centers who needACD functionality utilize PBXs for the call transfer operations. Thisrequires expensive equipment to maintain and upgrade. Proprietary switchcontrol software is required to monitor status of telephone operators indirectory assistance, call center and telephony services. Finally,expensive long distance trunks are required to connect thegeographically remote operators to the ACD facility.

Overall, the prior art topology and consequent methodology is complex,inefficient and expensive. A simpler, more efficient and less expensivemethodology and topology would satisfy a long felt need to improvedelivery of telephone operator services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Local area networks and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks arebecoming inexpensive and also robust for local data communication. Voiceover data is an emerging technology that allows voice to be sentcompressed in packet form over data networks.

In accordance with an inventive arrangement, voice over data technologyis utilized to manage operator services via intranet data networks. Moreparticularly, and for the first time, a single transport for data, voiceand signaling information is utilized, together with selectablemultiplexor facilities with network connections, and advantageously,capacity for compressing and decompressing voice.

In accordance with another inventive arrangement, voice over datatechnology is utilized for communicating to remotely located operatorservice networks by compressed voice over data. More particularly, thecompression of voice allows, for example, a 4 to 1 reduction in thebandwidth required for the T1/E1 trunk lines. Transmitting voice inpacketized form allows the voice to be multiplexed together with otherdata across the remote links. This significantly reduces remote WANconnection costs because a significantly smaller number of long distancetrunk lines is needed to communicate with a given number of operators.

In accordance with yet another inventive arrangement, voice over datatechnology is utilized for communicating between a central operatorstatus server on an intranet, used for storing and updating operationactivity data, and an operator services network geographically remotefrom the status server, using the same long distance trunk linescarrying voice to and from the operator services network.

More particularly, the central status server can be utilized on anintranet to register each operator's personal computer. Using agraphical interface on the terminal, the status of the operator can beregistered on this server. The server information enables otherapplications to check the availability of individual operators. For thefirst time, a central server registers and maintains operator statusinformation, no special software or hardware is required except standardinternet protocol (IP) intranet connections using LAN or modem hardwareand parameters that need to be monitored or reported can be changedusing open interface.

In accordance with these inventive arrangements, a telephone operatorservices system can be managed using standard multimedia personalcomputers as operator work stations, compressed voice and switching(address) data can be transmitted via the same communications path and acentralized status server can register operator status and cancommunicate with the operator work stations utilizing the samecommunications path carrying the compressed voice and switching data.

A method for managing operator services in accordance with an inventivearrangement comprises the steps of: compressing respective voice callsbetween a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a local areanetwork (LAN) of telephone operator work stations into respectivestreams of digital voice data packets; multiplexing the respectivestreams of digital voice data packets; transmitting the multiplexedstreams of the respective voice data packets between the PSTN and theLAN over a single digital data transmission line; demultiplexing therespective streams of the digital voice data packets transmitted overthe single digital data transmission line; and, decompressing thedemultiplexed streams of the digital voice data packets.

The method can further comprise the steps of: multiplexing data requestsgenerated by the LAN and data responses generated by an operatorservices data center (OSDC) with the digital voice data packets;transmitting the multiplexed data requests, the data responses and thedigital voice data packets over the single digital data transmissionline; and, demultiplexing the respective streams of the digital voicedata packets, the data requests and the data responses transmitted overthe single digital data transmission line.

The method can still further comprise the steps of: demultiplexing therespective streams of the digital voice data packets and the dataresponses transmitted to the LAN over the single digital datatransmission line in a switch, the switch directing the demulitplexedstreams of the digital voice data packets and the data responses todifferent ones of the operator work stations in the LAN; and,compressing and decompressing the voice calls in the operator workstations.

Advantageously, the method comprises the further step of demultiplexingthe respective streams of the digital voice data packets and the dataresponses transmitted to the LAN over the single digital datatransmission line in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch, the ATMswitch directing the demulitplexed streams of the digital voice datapackets and the data responses to different ones of the operator workstations in the LAN. In this regard, and more particularly, the methodfurther comprises the steps of: demultiplexing the respective streams ofthe digital voice data packets and the data requests transmitted by theLAN over the single digital data transmission line in a voice call anddata interface (VCDI), the VCDI routing the demulitplexed streams of thedigital voice data packets and the data responses to the PSTN and theOSDC respectively; and, compressing and decompressing the voice calls inVCDI.

In accordance with another inventive arrangement, the method of thefirst inventive arrangement can further comprise the steps of: linking avoice call and data interface (VCDI) and the LAN with the single digitaldata transmission line; further linking the VCDI to each of the PSTN andthe OSDC; multiplexing data requests generated by the LAN with thedigital voice data packets; demultiplexing in the VCDI the respectivestreams of the digital voice data packets and the data requestsgenerated by the LAN; routing the demultiplexed streams of the digitalvoice data packets and the data requests generated by the LAN from theVCDI to the PSTN and the OSDC respectively; multiplexing data responsesgenerated by the OSDC with the digital voice data packets; transmittingthe multiplexed data requests and the digital voice data packets fromthe VCDI to the LAN over the single digital data transmission line;demultiplexing the respective streams of the digital voice data packetsand the data responses transmitted to the LAN over the single digitaldata transmission line in a switch, the switch routing the demulitplexedstreams of the digital voice data packets and the data responses todifferent ones of the operator work stations in the LAN; and,compressing and decompressing the voice calls in the operator workstations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

There are shown in the drawings forms which are presently preferred, itbeing understood however, that the inventive arrangements are notlimited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art telephone operator servicessystem.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an operator services system, in accordancewith the inventive arrangements taught herein, which can be managed inaccordance with a methodology according to the inventive arrangementstaught herein.

The latter inventive arrangement can further comprise the step ofdemultiplexing the respective streams of the digital voice data packetsand the data responses transmitted to the LAN over the single digitaldata transmission line in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch,the ATM switch directing the demulitplexed streams of the digital voicedata packets and the data responses to different ones of the operatorwork stations in the LAN.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The inventive arrangements taught herein can best be appreciated incontrast to the prior art arrangement for a telephone operator systemfor providing directory assistance, and other operator services. Such aprior art system 10 is shown in FIG. 1. Callers requesting directoryassistance, or other operator services, initiate telephone calls into apublic switched telephone network (PSTN) 12. The PSTN 12 routes thetelephone calls to an automatic call distributor (ACD) 14. The PSTN 12and ACD 14 are connected by T1/E1 voice trunk lines 16 for subscribers,which carry voice.

The ACD 14 manages operator activity data. Operator activity dataincludes identification of operators signing on and off of the system,as work shifts and work breaks pass, and also includes identification ofwhich operators are handling service calls progress and which operatorsare available to handle new service calls. The ACD 14 uses activity datato identify an available operator and, upon such identification,transfers the call to one of a plurality of operator work stations 18,provided with a telephone for the operator, via a first set of channelbanks 20 and a second set of channel banks 22. The work stations can beembodied by personal computers insofar as data must be requested andreceived, but it must be remembered that the voice communication isindependent of the processing and operation of the personal computer,and independent of the interface between each computer and the source ofdata for each computer. Channel banks 20 and 22 are connected by T1/E1voice trunk lines 24 which carry voice and switch control data. The ACD14 and the first set of channel banks 20 communicate with one another byan interface 26 for voice lines and switch data lines for the operators.

The second set of channel banks 22 communicates with different ones ofthe plurality of operator work stations 18 via respective sets ofoperator switch control lines 26 and operator voice lines 28.

Operators need to access data bases of operator services information,also referred to as caller data information, which the operators supplyto the callers, for example a telephone number or a long distancecalling rate. These data bases include, for example, a listing servicesinformation program (LSIP) 30 and a number services information program(NSIP) 34. The data bases form part of a data center local area network(LAN) 36.

The ACD 14 also connects the data bases of the caller data informationto different ones of the operator work stations 18 via a call processinggateway (CPG) 38, data routers 40 and 42, or alternately, data routers44 and 46 and an operator center LAN 48. Communications within each ofthe data center LAN 36 and the operator center LAN 48 typically takeplace at 16 MB/sec.

However, the data center LAN 36 and the operator center LAN 48 areusually geographically remote from one another. The routers associatedwith the data center LAN 36 and the operator center LAN 48 communicatewith one another via a wide area network (WAN) 50, which transmits dataat a much slower rate of 64 KB/sec.

The data center LAN 36 also includes a maintenance administrationprogram (MAP) 52 containing operator activity data. The MAP 52 iscontinuously updated by the operator work stations.

The ACD 14 and CPG 38 communicate through a computer telephony interface(CTI) 54. The ACD 14 and an intelligent audio system (IAS) 56, formingpart of the data center LAN 36, communicate via T1/E1 voice trunk lines58 for audio response units. The IAS 56 provides stored greetings andother audio messages for making the caller interaction with the operatorservices data center more user friendly.

The data center LAN 36 and the operator center LAN 48 are furtherprovided with transport (TPORT) gateways 60, which map data at each endof the operator services information communications path.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an operator services system 200, inaccordance with the inventive arrangements and methodology taught.

Callers requesting directory assistance, or other operator services,initiate telephone calls into a public switched telephone network (PSTN)202, corresponding to PSTN 12 in FIG. 1. The PSTN 202 routes thetelephone calls one of two call directors 204 and 206. The PSTN 12 andeach of the call directors 204 and 206 are connected by T1/E1 voicetrunk lines 208 and 210, respectively, for subscribers, which carryvoice. The call directors 204 and 206 monitor operator activity data toidentify an available operator and, upon such identification, transfersthe call to one of a plurality of operator work stations 212, forming anoperator center local area network (LAN) 214. Communications within theoperator center LAN 214 typically take place at 25 MB/sec. Each calldirector compresses the voice before transmission to the selectedoperator work station, preferably into a packetized format. Thecompressed voice is transmitted to the selected operator work stationvia one of the multiplexor/demultiplexors (MUX/DEMUX) 216 or 218, and anasynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch 220, over T1/E1 long distancetrunk lines 222 or 224. Each MUX/DEMUX 216 and 218 demultiplexes signalstransmitted from the call directors to the operator work stations andmultiplexes signals transmitted from the operator work stations to thecall directors. The ATM switch 220 is connected to each of the operatorwork stations 212. Call routing to selected operator work stations iscontrolled in the ATM switch 220 by address information in the headersof the compressed voice packets.

The call directors 204 an 206 also connect the data bases of the callerdata information to different ones of the operator work stations via thesame communications path just described, namely one of themultiplexor-demultiplexors (MUX/DEMUX) 216 or 218, the asynchronoustransfer mode (ATM) switch 220, and the T1/E1 long distance trunk lines222 or 224. This may be contrasted with the system shown in FIG. 1,which requires a separate wide area network, a plurality of routers anda plurality of transport gateways to transmit operator services data atsignificantly lower data transmission rates than those of the LANs andthe T1/E1 trunk lines.

The data bases include, for example, a listing services informationprogram (LSIP) 226, a number services information program (NSIP), notshown, and a maintenance administration program (MAP) 228 containingoperator activity data. The NSIP and MAP 228 similar to the NSIP 34 andMAP 52 described in connection with FIG. 1.

The call directors 204 and 206 and the data bases form part of a datacenter local area network (LAN) 230. This may be contrasted with theautomatic call distributor in FIG. 1, which required the call processinggateway to communicate with the data center LAN. Each of the calldirectors can also be thought of as a voice and data interface, withrespect to the PSTN and the single digital data transmission lines.

The data center LAN 230 can also include an intelligent audio system,not shown, similar to the IAS 56 in FIG. 1, although this function ispreferably implemented in another personal computer forming part of thedata center LAN 230. Communications within the data center LAN 230typically take place at 16 MB/sec.

Each work station 212 can be a standard consumer multimedia personalcomputer, available from a number of sources, including IBM®Corporation. Such a work station can operate with, for example, a 166MHz Intel® Pentium® or equivalent processor. Each work station can havea standard operating system like Windows 95®, OS/2® or Windows® 3.11.The multimedia built-in standard sound/audio functions are necessary toallow for the operator headset and microphone to be connected. Eachcomputer work station requires only one interface to receive both voiceand data, as contrasted with the need for dual computer interfaces inthe prior art system shown in FIG. 1. Each work station 212 has specialsoftware that presents a graphical interface to the operator forprocessing voice calls, for providing voice compression anddecompression of the voice calls while integrating with the sound andaudio functions of the multimedia PC and for performing the transmissionof the voice information, using the internet protocol for communicationwith the call directors 204 and 206. Advantageously, latency in thevoice traffic can be minimized by using very small buffers whilemaintaining acceptable quality voice for conversions with callers. Aheadset is advantageously used with the multimedia PC, via a standardphone jack, for the convenience of the operator.

The status of each operator is registered within the call directorsusing standard internet protocol (IP) based intranet software, via thesame network over which the other data and voice are communicated. Alluse the same underlying IP network. The information in this server isutilized by the call directors to route the voice to respective operatorwork stations.

The call directors provide numerous functions. Each call director:controls call flow; controls call processing resources; compresses voicesent to call processing resources; decompresses voice received from callprocessing resources; multiplexes voice and data into digital datastreams; demultiplexes voice and data from digital data streams;provides ATM and/or Token ring connectivity for local call processingresources; and, provides T1/E1 connectivity for remote call processingresources.

The compression of voice allows, for example, a 4 to 1 reduction in thebandwidth required. The call director to the demultiplexor connectionsare T1/E1 links. Sending the voice in packetized form allows the voiceto be sent together with other data across the remote links. This allowsfor significant reduction in remote wide area connections costs.

It will be appreciated that the inventive arrangements can beimplemented using only one of the two call directors and only one of thetwo multiplexor/demultiplexors shown in FIG. 2. The use of parallelcommunication paths between the data center LAN and the PSTN, on the onehand, and the operator services LAN on the other hand, serves toillustrate how the number of operator work stations in the operatorservices center LAN can be significantly increased with minimaladditional costs and minimal complexity of the system topology. Thiscost advantage is emphasized, for example, by the ability of one ATMswitch to handle at least two parallel communication paths.

The long felt need to improve delivery of telephone operator serviceswith simpler, more efficient and less expensive methodology and topologyis clearly satisfied by the inventive arrangements taught herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for managing operator services,comprising the steps of:compressing respective voice calls between apublic switched telephone network (PSTN) and an operator center localarea network (LAN) of telephone operator work stations into respectivestreams of digital voice data packets; multiplexing said respectivestreams of digital voice data packets together with caller datainformation and requests for caller data information generated by a datacenter LAN; transmitting said multiplexed streams of said respectivevoice data packets, said caller data information, and requests forcaller data information between said PSTN and said operator center LANover a single digital data transmission line; demultiplexing saidrespective streams of said digital voice data packets, said caller, datainformation and said requests for caller data information transmittedover said single digital data transmission line; and, decompressing saiddemultiplexed streams of said digital voice data packets.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising the steps of:demultiplexing saidrespective streams of said digital voice data packets and said callerdata information transmitted to said operator center LAN over saidsingle digital data transmission line in a switch, said switch directingsaid demultiplexed streams of said digital voice data packets and saidcaller data information to different ones of said operator work stationsin said operator center LAN; and, compressing and decompressing saidvoice calls in said operator work stations.
 3. The method of claim 2,comprising the step of demultiplexing said respective streams of saiddigital voice data packets and said caller data information transmittedto said operator center LAN over said single digital data transmissionline in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch, said ATM switchdirecting said demultiplexed streams of said digital voice data packetsand said caller data information to different ones of said operator workstations in said operator center LAN.
 4. The method of claim 3, furthercomprising the steps of:demultiplexing said respective streams of saiddigital voice data packets and said requests for caller data informationtransmitted by said operator center LAN over said single digital datatransmission line in a voice and data interface, said voice and datainterface routing said demultiplexed streams of said digital voice datapackets and said requests for caller data information to said PSTN andsaid data center LAN respectively; and, compressing and decompressingsaid voice calls in said voice and data interface.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising the steps of:demultiplexing said respectivestreams of said digital voice data packets and said requests for callerdata information transmitted by said operator center LAN over saidsingle digital data transmission line in a voice and data interface,said voice and data interface routing said demultiplexed streams of saiddigital voice data packets and said requests for caller data informationto said PSTN and said data center LAN respectively; and, compressing anddecompressing said voice calls in said voice and data interface.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:interposing a voiceand data interface between said operator center LAN and each of saidPSTN and said data center LAN; multiplexing requests for caller datainformation generated by said operator center LAN and caller datainformation generated by said data center LAN with said digital voicedata packets; transmitting said multiplexed requests for caller datainformation, said caller data information and said digital voice datapackets over said single digital data transmission line; and,demultiplexing said respective streams of said digital voice datapackets, said requests for caller data information and said caller datainformation transmitted over said single digital data transmission line.7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:linking avoice and data interface and said operator center LAN with said singledigital data transmission line; further linking said voice and datainterface to each of said PSTN and said data center LAN; multiplexingrequests for caller data information generated by said operatorworkstations in said operator center LAN with said digital voice datapackets; demultiplexing in said voice and data interface said respectivestreams of said digital voice data packets and said requests for callerdata information generated by operator workstations in said operatorcenter LAN; routing said demultiplexed streams of said digital voicedata packets and said requests for caller data information generated byoperator workstations in said operator center LAN from said voice anddata interface to said PSTN and said data center LAN respectively;multiplexing caller data information generated by said data center LANwith said digital voice data packets; and, transmitting said multiplexedcaller data information and said digital voice data packets from saidvoice and data inteface to said operator center LAN over said singledigital data transmission line.
 8. The method of claim 7, furthercomprising the steps of:demultiplexing said respective streams of saiddigital voice data packets and said caller data information transmittedto said operator center LAN over said single digital data transmissionline in a switch, said switch routing said demultiplexed streams of saiddigital voice data packets and said caller data information to differentones of said operator work stations in said operator center LAN; and,compressing and decompressing said voice calls in said operator workstations.
 9. The method of claim 8, comprising the step ofdemultiplexing said respective streams of said digital voice datapackets and said caller data information transmitted to said operatorcenter LAN over said single digital data transmission line in anasynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch, said ATM switch directing saiddemultiplexed streams of said digital voice data packets and said callerdata information to different ones of said operator work stations insaid operator center LAN.
 10. The method of claim 2, further comprisingthe steps of:demultiplexing said respective streams of said digitalvoice data packets and said requests for caller data informationtransmitted by said operator center LAN over said single digital datatransmission line in a voice and data interface, said voice and datainterface routing said demultiplexed streams of said digital voice datapackets and said reguests for caller data information to said PSTN andsaid data center LAN respectively; and, compressing and decompressingsaid voice calls in said voice and data interface.